Hi! I'm 18 and at College and I've had an idea about starting a Record shop after I finish College. I'm a bit worried about starting my own business at a young age and it would be great if I could get some advice on starting up. Cheers!

will

28-05-2002, 12:29 PM

Dave
Best advice is to get yourself working in a record shop part time and learn from the inside it wont take long but there are things that they can teach you in days that you will take years to sort out. Don't worry about age if its not a problem for you then you can convince others its not a problem for them

Good Luck

Warlow

02-06-2002, 11:28 AM

Dave,
First, don't worry about your age! The thing about starting up without having taken a full time job or having run a previous business is that you you can look at problems from a totally different angle. You are not taken in by "it should be done this way" thoughts.
However, having said that, there is no point trying to reinvent the wheel, so as well as taking Will's advice to work in a shop (which is a great idea), get a mentor. Find someone already in business who is willing to guide you. You will be surprised how many business people are more than happy to share their experience.
A good way of getting a mentor is to sign up with The Prince's Trust. They have been established to help young people get into business and provide a lot of support.
Check out you local Business Link and get an appointment with one of their advisers. Go to www.businesslink.org to find your nearest one.
One thing I would urge you to do is to make sure you have thoroughly gone through your idea. You want to set up a record shop but you will have a lot of competition - established record chains, supermarkets, on-line stores etc. What is going to be different about your shop that is going to make me pay you a visit? If you are going to be a general stockists then you'll have to think about the range you'll have to stock. If you are going to be specialist then that's different but you'll have to satisfy yourself that there is the market locally. Identifying your market has to be your priority.
Talking these points through with a mentor or Business Link will help clarify what direction to take.
Best of luck,

Rob
www.smallbusinesssuccess.biz

xango

06-04-2006, 06:59 AM

CHECK OUT THIS SITE.
WE HAVE A 17 YEAR OLD WHO IS IN THE BUSINESS.
WWW.BREAKINGDISCOVERY.COM
THANK YOU AND ALSO FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS

onlinkmedia

06-04-2006, 09:16 AM

On from what Rob said, competition is very fierce, and gettng some experience of working in another shop is probably the best thing you could do to learn how they compete with the big boys, and run the business on a whole.

If you set up shop you'll also need a website with an online store that can handle downloads as that'll be the future of music.

It may be easier to do a more specified selection of cd's - in Brighton theres a few independent dance/club music shops as thats the big scene in Brighton, as well as a few punk/rock shops and these do very well as thats the main thing there. Perhaps you could do a shop that fits in with your local scene?

If you want any more help, give me a shout.

Rich

edit: also if you set up you'll probably need a subscription to music week